Birthday Deified, Otherwise Vilified.North Korea Notes By Uncle Monty.
Kim Graphic By Alex Albion.
...
Mysterious halo heralds Kim's
birthday in North Korea.
By Reuter Correspondent
Jon Herskovitz.
...
SEOUL (Reuters) - The moon over hermit North
SEOUL (Reuters) - The moon over hermit North
Korea gave off a mysterious glow and citizens pledged
undying loyalty to leader Kim Jong-il ahead of his birth-
day. The rest of the world is wondering whether the
head of Asia's only communist dynasty might be ready
to mark his 67th year by testing its longest-range
missile that could, in theory, carry a warhead as
far as the United States.
...
On top of that, Kim's health problems have set off fresh
On top of that, Kim's health problems have set off fresh
speculation over who might succeed him as leader of one of
the world's most isolated and impoverished states, whose
efforts to become a nuclear weapons power mean it is
never far from the international community's
list of major concerns.
...
Deified at home as the "Dear Leader," and
vilified elsewhere as a dangerous tyrant, Kim
vilified elsewhere as a dangerous tyrant, Kim
celebrates his birthday on Monday, labeled by North
Korean state media as "the most auspicious day of the
nation." By some accounts, he may be fortunate to
have made it this far after suffering a suspected
stroke in August.
...
Kim, who took power after his father and state founder
Kim, who took power after his father and state founder
Kim Il-sung died in 1994, has vexed the world for years
with his nuclear arms program and the constant threat
of sending his one million-strong army across the border
that has divided the Korean peninsula for over half a
century and into the South. He has also led his country
deeper into poverty and, in the late 1990s, a famine
estimated to have killed about 1 million of the then
22 million population.
...
The reclusive Kim has relied heavily on military
The reclusive Kim has relied heavily on military
threats, with some success, to squeeze concessions
from regional powers to help keep his ravaged economy
afloat. In recent weeks, the level of angry rhetoric has
increased sharply, including a threat to destroy the
wealthy South in anger at the hardline policies
of its President Lee Myung-bak.
...
The saber-rattling has been accompanied by reports that
The saber-rattling has been accompanied by reports that
the North is readying a test-launch of its Taepodong-2
missile, which failed in its first and only test in 2006 but
is thought to have the potential to go as far as Alaska.
is thought to have the potential to go as far as Alaska.
...
GETTING NOTICED
Many analysts say Pyongyang's motivation in raising
Many analysts say Pyongyang's motivation in raising
tension is to grab the attention of new U.S. President
Barack Obama and ensure it is high on Hillary Clinton's
agenda when she flies to Asia this week for her first trip
abroad as secretary of state. On Friday, Clinton offered
North Korea a peace treaty, normal ties and aid if it
eliminated its nuclear arms program. There has
been no response yet from Pyongyang.
...
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006,
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006,
does not have the technology to make a nuclear warhead
for missiles, experts have said, but it can threaten South
Korea and Japan with a proven arsenal of short-range
and ballistic missiles.
...
In North Korea, the birthday means festivals with singing
In North Korea, the birthday means festivals with singing
soldiers, dancing in the street, a few extra handfuls of rice
for workers and sweets for children. State media is
relentless in its praise of Kim and his achievements. A few
days ago above Mt. Jong-il "an unprecedented phenomenon
of moon halo was observed," the North's KCNA news agency
said. "The surroundings of the peak became as bright as
daytime to make the night view above Kim Jong-il's
birthplace in the Paektusan Secret Camp brilliant."
...
It is not unusual for Kim to miss the public birthday
It is not unusual for Kim to miss the public birthday
celebrations. But his absence in the past year from events
he usually attends raised concern about his health, his grip
on power and who might be making decisions about the
North's nuclear arms programs. Kim appears to have
recovered although his trademark paunch presses less
clearly on his mud-grey jumpsuits, the hair has thinned
in his bouffant and he appears to have given up wearing
platform shoes – with speculation in the South that,
post-stroke, these are harder for him to balance in.
(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Dean Yates).
(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Dean Yates).
.
:: North Korea Notes By Uncle Monty ::
Obviously without the threat of nuclear weapons,
Obviously without the threat of nuclear weapons,
quaint North Korea would otherwise be of little
significance on the world stage nor would
the 67th birthday tomorrow of Kim Jong-il be
of much importance beyond the closed realm of
of much importance beyond the closed realm of
the last Stalinist State that I myself experienced
first hand while visiting North Korea’s capital
of pseudoscopic Pyongyang.
...
Rueter’s Jon Herskovitz has some merit in
...
Rueter’s Jon Herskovitz has some merit in
his otherise rather waggish report from Seoul
entiled “Mysterious halo heralds Kim's birthday
in North Korea,” but I wonder if he has been
inside North Korea itself like me?
...
If he hasn’t then his article is also abit flawed
If he hasn’t then his article is also abit flawed
for it then fails to present the real “feel” of
what it is like inside North Korea itself to that
of reporting from the capitalist capital of South
Korea's Seoul that is an entirely different world
and "feel" to pro-proletariate Pyongyang.
...
What the West fails to understand is that North
Korea is first a political and social abberation
and secondly that it is an obsolescent society
and secondly that it is an obsolescent society
that is not moved by modern Western thought
and lifestyle. If it were to accept such, then
Pyongyang would soon be like Seoul or any
other Asian capitalistic and Western-styled
city like Tokyo or Hong Kong or Singapore.
...
As for Obama's new and first U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, she doesn’t know a Hill of
Beans about North Kroea other than what has
been fed to her by her State Department handlers.
She is something like a third-class ballet dancer
She is something like a third-class ballet dancer
that will never fit the shoes of a first-class prima
ballerina like the late Dame Margot Fonteyn.
Thus, Hillary Clinton is likely to make an utter fool
of herself by trying to do third-rate piroutettes
with the likes of North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim
Jong-il and his exclusive diehard gang of military
Stalinists thugs at Pyongyang. If any thing, Hiliary
Clinton is the least qualified to deal with the
problem of the historic divisions and enmities
of the divided Koreas. She knows Pyongyang is
somewhere out there, but I suspect she couldn't
point it out directly on a map of the world
without the help of her U.S. handlers. In fact,
the American Government by its nature, and
no matter who is President, will never get inside
the mind of North Korea until it sheds its past
thinking toward it, which of course, is highly
improbable right now or in the near future.
The U.S. response and reaction to Kim Jong-il
is much like it is to Iran, except for different
reasons, that displays the open ignorance of
American foreign policy in the world today.
Under Barack Obama the rhetoric will
undoubtedly be different and softer to that
of hideous and vile ex-prez George Bush, but
I doubt very much that Obama's planned
new policy will result in any dramatic U.S.
"détente" with either North Korea or Iran.
...
As for the birthday of "Dear Leader," who
gives a damn anyway? I sure don't. Although
I am truly fascinated with North Korea, but
most certainly not with Kim himself. After
having seen myself his father's embalmed body
on state display at Pyongyang's huge Memorial
Palace, I can say his son is not only very un-
inspiring but a curse on the future of North
Korea and the freeing of his people from state
oppression and callous mass starvation.
.
Truly, Uncle Monty.
+Homelessness Week, 2oo9.
...
Next Story By Uncle Monty:
Fátima : Local Sagrado ou Festival Religioso?
Otherwise: Sacred Shrine or Religious Roadshow?
...
Next Story By Uncle Monty:
Fátima : Local Sagrado ou Festival Religioso?
Otherwise: Sacred Shrine or Religious Roadshow?
+
During his great and illustrious papacy,
Pope John Paul II personally visited the
Pope John Paul II personally visited the
Nossa Senhora do Rosário da Fátima
or The Holy Catholic Shrine of Fátima
or The Holy Catholic Shrine of Fátima
at Portugal.
+
As the Holy Father of the billion-plus
faithful of the Holy Roman Catholic Church,
John Paul also brought with him to Fátima
the gun wounds from his assassin who thank-
fully failed to kill him. And so to mark both
faithful of the Holy Roman Catholic Church,
John Paul also brought with him to Fátima
the gun wounds from his assassin who thank-
fully failed to kill him. And so to mark both
the first and tenth anniversaries of his
God-given survival against his assassin’s
bullets, John Paul came to Fátima twice to
pray and to give much thanks for his spared
life at where I myself, just only last week
and as an avid Anglican, humbly stood in
his wonderful and forgiving footsteps. No
wonder I saw pilgrims crying - along with
many others simply kissing, hugging or
touching - at the impressive statue of the
pre-eminent John Paul II at Fátima.
More from me on Fátima, shortly.
+
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